When there was a long delay between his and the manager’s pre-match briefings for Tuesday’s Champions League game at RB Leipzig, Oleksandr Zinchenko might have been forgiven for fearing Pep Guardiola was going through a transcript of his words with a fine toothcomb.
After all, ahead of last season’s last-16 game against Borussia Monchengladbach, when Zinchenko told reporters he and his Manchester City team-mates had designs on an unprecedented quadruple, he was swiftly admonished by Guardiola.
“I am older than Mr Zinchenko, I have more experience and I don’t agree with him,” Pep bristled.
“The only thing he has to be worried about is trying to do a good game and try to go through. This is the only way. Four titles is a utopia.”
So, if you found Zinchenko’s words ahead of a dead rubber against managerless Bundesliga opponents more beige than utopian then it should be no surprise. No one likes getting told off by the boss in public, so he was probably keen to avoid a repeat.
However, what also emerged is that, no matter how hard Guardiola or anyone else is on Zinchenko, it pales next to the standards the Ukraine international sets for himself.
“I’m here already for five seasons. The only thing I know is that to be successful you need hard work, that is the only key,” he said.
“I have done my best, my 100 per cent and then, if you deserve, you play. If you don’t deserve then you didn’t do enough. That’s my opinion.”
Last week’s 2-1 win at Aston Villa, where Zinchenko turned in a typically efficient and committed display at left-back, was his first Premier League start of the season.
By his own measurement, the 24-year-old is one of the undeserving who has not done enough. But, looking at the totality of his City career, that could not be further from the truth.
In a squad of world-class talents, no one has over-performed as emphatically and consistently as Zinchenko during the Guardiola era.
Big eight-figure transfer fees are the norm at City, while Jack Grealish became British football’s first £100million player this summer.
By contrast, ZInchenko was an unheralded £1.8million arrival from FC Ufa ahead of the 2016/17 season. Loaned out to PSV for that campaign, he was evidently a City Football Group signing - a bright talent to be nurtured in the loan market and then sold at a tidy profit.
Except, a youngster whose tenacity bellies his choirboy looks had not read that script. In 2017/18, he featured as a back-up at left-back, despite being a career midfielder.
There was a chance to join Wolves in 2018, but Zinchenko instead ended the treble-winning season as City’s first choice at left-back.
He did not always inspire confidence on his return to the side around the turn of the year, with an error at Southampton leading to an equaliser.
“Look what happened with Oleks and how he reacted as a young player,” Guardiola said after the a 3-1 win at St Mary’s where Zinchenko crossed for Sergio Aguero to score.
“He didn’t hide. He was completely the opposite and went on to make an assist. He was the best player on the pitch.”
Entering 2019/20 as first-choice seemed a little bit of a culture shock for a player used to scrapping for everything that came his way and his form faded.
Naturally, with plenty assuming that would be the end of Zinchenko’s story at City, he won back his place to be Guardiola’s go-to man at left-back en route to last season’s Champions League final.
Now he is back on the outside looking in for the most part but, as Joao Cancelo embarks upon an improbably rich vein of career-best form, this is not Oleks’ fault, no matter how much he might think it is.
His surprise and excellent turn in midfield against Paris Saint-Germain last month showed his enduring quality and how he typifies the blend of relentless work and technical excellence that are the hallmarks of what might be Guardiola’s best-ever side.
Against Leipzig, Zinchenko is likely to make his 108th appearance for City in all competitions. No one would have batted an eyelid had he never made his senior debut before being shipped off.
It is not in the player’s nature to reflect upon this, but one day he will hopefully come to appreciate that he is a success story like no other at the modern-day Manchester City.
